Who are the best and worst presidents in your lifetime?

Pat Cunningham

Thursday

Jul 20, 2017 at 9:12 PM

Since I'm probably older than most of my readers, I have more U.S. presidents from which to choose in answering the question in the headline above. I have another advantage in this regard: The first of the 15 presidents in my lifetime, Franklin D. Roosevelt, was the best. And the latest of those chief executives, […]

Since I'm probably older than most of my readers, I have more U.S. presidents from which to choose in answering the question in the headline above.

I have another advantage in this regard: The first of the 15 presidents in my lifetime, Franklin D. Roosevelt, was the best. And the latest of those chief executives, Donald Trump, is the worst — after only six months on the job. All the others have been comparatively mediocre in retrospect — which is to say that FDR was very good, and The Donald is very bad.

Of course, it's a little unfair to pass judgment on our recent presidents before history has had a chance to assess their performances. Some presidents have grown in stature years after they've been gone. Harry Truman was one such example. He was more than a little unpopular when he left office, but historians have upgraded him over the years.

As I say, I've lived under more presidents than almost all of you readers. There can't be very many of you who recall Herbert Hoover, who moved out of the White House in 1933.

This chronological list of the 14 most recent presidents likely covers all the choices you'll need to consider:

Franklin D. Roosevelt

Harry Truman

Dwight Eisenhower

John F. Kennedy

Lyndon Johnson

Richard Nixon

Gerald Ford

Jimmy Carter

Ronald Reagan

George H.W. Bush

Bill Clinton

George W. Bush

Barack Obama

Donald Trump

In making your choices, please explain yourself.

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